It's a second-hand rec! ;)

Nota bene: Toypurnia is based on Toypurina, a Tongva shaman who did almost exactly what her fictional counterpart does, except for have such a very interesting son.

Y'know, that might make an interesting paper for somebody in high school lit to write - compare and contrast Cordelia Naismith and Toypurnia/Regina.

Allende worked in a lot of real history into this, although personalities may vary from the original.